The French toll road operator and builder group Vinci recently signed a contract agreement for the Athena-Tsakona toll road concession, a major highway project in Greece. In this project, Vinci Concessions leads a consortium called Olympia Odos, composed of Vinci Concessions (36%), Hochtief PPP Solutions (Germany, 25%) and three Greek contractors Aktor Concessions (18%), JetP-Avax (18%) and Athena (3%).

A colossal project: €2.8 billion, 19 banks!

The project is huge: the consortium will design, finance, build and renovate, and operate the 365-kilometre long Athena-Tsakona toll road for 30 years. There are around 19 kilometres of tunnels, and 400 works of art (bridges, etc.) to build or repair. Also, a total of 163 kilometres of new highway will be built in six years, and 120 kilometres will be renovated. For the construction, Vinci Grands Projets, the contracting subsidiary of Vinci Group will be associated to the German and Greek companies.

The total cost of the project is estimated at €2.8 billion, of which €1.6 billion will be financed by a bank consortium composed of 19 different financial institutions. With this new toll road, Vinci Concessions now operates around 600 kilometres of highways in Greece, after having been known for the famous Rion-Antirion bridge, built under a Public-Private Partnership contract, and now successfully operated for four years.

It is to note that Vinci Concessions is also part of the Maliakos-Kleidi highway project (north phase of the Athena-Thessalonique toll road). The company is actually the first private toll road operator worldwide, with 4,373 kilometres of tolled highways in operation by its four subsidiaries.

References

  • Article: Les travaux d’Hercule de Vinci, Le Moniteur, Aug. 7, 2008: here
  • Press release: VINCI signe le contrat pour la concession de l’autoroute Athènes – Tsakona, Vinci, Jul. 24, 2008: here